Shifting-ballast center-board



(No'ModeL) I I G. W. SGHERMERHORN.

SHIFTING BALLAST CENTER BOARD.

No. 352,934. Patented Nov. 23, 1.88630 UNITE STATES P TENT Prion.

GEORGE W. .SOHERMERHORN, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

SHIFTING-BALLAST CENTER-BOARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 352,934, dated November23,1886.

'Application filed November 3, 1885. Serial No. 181,793. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. SOHERMER- may be shifted or slid fore andaft as the ballast center-board islowered or hauled up, and the saidballast center-board also operates in conjunction with one or moresupplemental center-boards, if the model and rig of the boat are such asto require such supplemental center-boards; or it may be used alone; andthe objects of my improvements are, first, to provide a weightedcenter-board which can be lowered and hauled up, the same as anyordinary oeuter-boardand'which can also be shifted fore and aft as it islowered and hauled up, so as not to throw the boat out of trim, which itwould evidently do if it were secured to the boat in the ordinary way.

I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the ac companyingdrawings, in. which 7 Figure 1 is a perspective view of a boat furnishedwith my invention. A is the hullof a boat. B is the weightedcenter-board. O is the shifting bolt or pivot that connects the weightedcenter board with the boat, and which slides or rolls fore and aft uponways formed by or upon the deck, and which incline toward the after endof theboat. Fig. 2 is a vertical fore-and-aft or longitudinal sectiontaken at the dotted line D in Fig. 1.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The center-board box may be built like an If the ballast-board whenhauled up extends below the bottom of the boat, then the box need notexte'ndout through the stern of the boat; butif the ballast-board is soconstructed that it must be hauled up into the box, then the end of thebox must extend right out through the stern of the boat, (in that casethe top or cover of the narrow or low part of for the pivot O; or thecenter-board B may be deep enough to have the pivot Opass through themain part of the center-board; or the pivot C may be connected with thecenter-board by a jointed rod or chain. In that case a frame or slidecould be used instead of the pivot O.

I consider all these arrangements equivalent to what I show anddescribe.

It is evident that a weighted center-board heavy enough and long enoughto be of much use as ballast would, when lowered, trim the boat too muchby the head, or when hauled up trim the boat too much by the stern. Theway my invention obviates that is by having the weighted center-board Bconnected with the boat A by the movable pivot or bolt 0, that may beshifted or slid fore and aft along the deck as the weighted center-boardis lowered, or hauled up if the boat has sufficient sheer; or if thedeck that the pivot O slides upon has sufficient incline the pivot Cwill be shifted fore and aft automatically by simply lowering andhauling up the weighted centerboard; or suificient force can be appliedto the pivot O by hand or 'with any suitable purchase 7 to shift it foreand aft as the center-board B is hauled up or lowered, thus shifting theforward end of the ,weighted center-board aft as its after end .is.lowered, and shifting the forward end forward as its after end is hauledup, thus ICO not hold the boat the ballast-board could be let go, asdescribed, and used as a mooring. In that case it would be well toattach a line to the upper forward end of the ballast. Then it could behove up into place when desired; or when desirable to go into a shoalharbor or up ariver where the boat would draw too much water with herballast, then the ballast could be let go in the way described and theropes buoyed, and when the boat returned the ballast could be picked up.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

In a ballasting device for vessels, the combination of theshifting-ballast center-board having a long and ashort arm at rightangles to each other and rigidly connected together, the

long arm having secured. to it a rope or chain,

and an opening in the after part of the vessel through which the rope orchain that is secured to the board is passed to the deck all soconnected that as the after end of the board is lowered its forward endis shifted aft, all

substantially as shown and described, for the purpose specified.

GEORGE W. SOHERMERHORN. I

' XVitncsses:

GEORGE W. SEIJIZER, XVILLIAM H. Kon

